Early morning after the mission's briefing, Team Tsunade excluding Kushina left Konoha with their destination being the Land of Whirlpools near the eastern coast of the continent in between the land of Fire and the Land of Water.

Much to Kai's humor, Kushina didn't even have the strength to fuss as the mental toll on her had been too much these past few days, and all she had waiting on his bed was a note complimenting her Wind Release Jutsus during her sleep. Ah, the bliss that is fresh air.

Tsunade was given two scrolls of storage with one of them having Mito's sealed body and the other one having the package that can only be opened by an Uzumaki. Of course, aside from Mito's mission to Team Tsunade, Hiruzen had his own optional mission to try and find out what was in the package.

But since the Team would have to cross borders, the mission rank was automatically bumped up to B-Rank, and their chances of meeting the enemy village's shinobi were high, too.

"Sensei, you don't seem fine... is everything alright?" Mikoto, as perceptive as ever, spoke up since she and Kai had noticed Tsunade's stormy expression long ago but Kai just had the wisdom to not cause chaos at expense of a woman who could beat the living shit out of him and heal him to do the same again, right?

"Maybe she got a wet dream and wet her bead," Kai idly mumbled, "You know you can sleep with Kushina. She keeps others awake due to her tendencies..."

"Shove it!" Tsunade snorted and glared at the duo, "Oh, I'm not fine! Did my expression give it away? Or the fact that Jiraiya thought of hitting me up for a late-night call to relieve my tensions? Or the fact that Orochimaru believed logically, in his damn words— Tsunade, you would need to have a release to have a calm mind before an important mission so better your own devices than Jiraiya. SENNIN! They can be fucking dumb sons of whores!"

She growled after imitating Orochimaru's raspy tone perfectly.

Mikoto flinched before giving a wry smile, not knowing how to handle the situation now that Tsunade didn't even try to hide things like this from them.

"Did you?" The innocent question made Tsunade's furious expression and Mikoto's wry one freeze up before they looked at Kai, who barely resisted the urge to snicker, looking all innocent and naively dumb like a street pup. They knew better, of course.

"Wanna get buried alongside Grandma?" Tsunade's eyes were wide as her almost bulging amber eyes bore into his gaze with a stoic but almost visible killing intent.

{A/N: Nah, don't get me started on why I don't want a killing intent detection skill.}

But Kai had faced worse in his previous life... still, he's had his fun, "Uh... no."

"Hmph, I'll see to it that our training beats everything 'Jiraiya' out of you!" Tsunade snorted and Mikoto shook her head, giving the boy she was so worried about a disappointed glare, "Really?" She inquired in a whisper, "Can't you be more responsible with your words?"

"I was curious," Kai huffed.

"Curiosity always kills the cat!" Mikoto scoffed and couldn't help but feel calm and a little relieved to be going on the mission with her own team.

"This cat has two lives!" Kai gave her a sidelong glance, 'Too bad I lost one already.'

Mikoto just looked a little amused by his words. Damn this kiddy body. But Damn Mikoto, too. She was six years older than him but still... how she was growing up THAT fine was nobody's business. Must be in her clan genes? Kekkei Genkai is indeed a fierce opponent... But then again, Kai did find his eyes just idly enjoying the sight of Tsunade in front of him while he kept his awareness to the maximum of his surroundings.

"Sensei," Kai called out softly once they were well an hour into their journey while Mikoto's eyes silently swirled to form two-tomoe Sharingan while their Sensei gave a discreet nod.

The trio stopped on one branch and stood around Kai as he slapped the branch for a second, leaving a tiny seal before they flickered away again.

A few minutes later after they left, a lone figure garbed in a dark cloak stood on the branch where Team Tsunade stood not long ago. The Shinobi's eyes revealed a moment of confusion through the eye sockets of the mask as he touched the branch and revealed the small chakra seal that served to send an alarm to the mother seal tag and inform the target. Scoffing, the shinobi dispelled the seal and continued on his way.

Not far from the branch and hidden behind one of the trees where they would have been found usually, yet the shinobi following them passed through without a fuss.

"This Genjutsu is amazing," Mikoto wondered with a slightly stunned look as Kai shrugged and basked in the credit of it. Basically, he had the idea of genjutsu and used it but the relevant knowledge was extrapolated from his trait since [Joker's Retreat] was his own creation.

"Can I copy it?" Mikoto looked at Kai, her red pupils widened slightly as she felt hopeful that she could increase the potency of the genjutsu by adding the sense of sight in the jutsu and propelling it to a B-rank Genjutsu—

"Nah, hmm," Kai snickered as Mikoto gave him a sidelong glance, "You know I'm only asking because it's the right thing to do, right? Others may not have even controlled themselves from copying it."

"Well, of course, you have to ask. Soon enough I'd be stronger than any Kekkei Genkai user—"

Tsunade snorted and ruffled his head, "Yeah, yeah, keep dreaming. You have three Kekkei Genkai nins in Team Tsunade including me. Would be good if you stop being such an arrogant brat."

"Tch, and that's why Nono gets to kiss the future strongest shinobi and not any of you... although... I don't know if she'd just stop using Genjutsu illusions..."

"Let's not waste our time," Mikoto snorted while Tsunade shrugged. It did wonders on her own mood to see someone else bicker, after all.

Still, Kai had other somber thoughts. Just this one following shinobi made it clear to him that someone, highly likely in Konoha itself, who did not know the full extent of his growth in the war was after them for reasons that could be as simple as to kill a potential threat but... that couldn't be it, right? If Konoha really had a bunch of pussies afraid of a 6-year-old chunin then he would have to reassess his own behavior in the village. If there are some cunts inside then... well, Kai was happy to give them a reason to fear him.

With an internal groan, he decided to pump the hard-earned SP from the grind into the [Advance Track Detection], and boy it was a lot! 

A whopping 602 SP!

This made him wonder how hard the grind would be for even stronger skills but again, the grind didn't scare him but the requirements of some skills are not worth the grind. Besides, SP was here to be utilized and not be kept in stock forever.

Tracing the target shinobi's chakra signature became an easy act. He could have traced the chakra signature before but Kai was a fond believer of overkill when it came to treating his enemies with disrespect.

"And? Can the two of you sense it?" Tsunade inquired. She wasn't a tracker but she had similar skills up her sleeves because a shinobi needed them. Kai and Mikoto nodded.

Oh, did he say damn Kekkei Genkai before? He did? Then damn them again!

'Uchihas are like... the definition of fucking overkill. One dojutsu to do them all... why couldn't Sharingan be like Byakugan and just have more cultured uses?' Kai rolled his eyes inwardly as Mikoto went ahead and said she could even sense the shinobi's chakra traveling in the direction they intended to leave for. Heck, Kai could only wonder the menace a Sharingan user would be if they had byakugan's 360° vision...

'Think about the menace a person with BOTH the dojutsu will have. Nah, don't think about it. Grind will overcome anything and everything!'

"Let's follow him and end the chase," Tsunade hummed thoughtfully and her apprentice followed the man the next instant. The seal Kai had placed was a simple bait to see if the opponent had more information about them. After all, this trick was used in the Ame-front of the war several times to see if the Iwa platoon chasing after them knew about their information and were skilled hunters sent by the main forces or just some chunin ranks following them to complete their war missions.

Again, in war especially, Kai stopped using Chakra reserves as the measure of the opponent's strength because, one, he himself was stronger than what his body and reserves represented, and two, skilled shinobi DID have a way to mask their chakra reserves, something Kai felt viable for later uses and had yet to start the grind for.

---

*Ssss*

The haunting corrosive sound of melting flesh echoed as their spy now lay on the ground with even his clothes melting into the goo of his flesh. While Kai looked positively revolted by the human yogurt, the shit flavor at that, Tsunade had a deep frown while Mikoto only looked at the melting flesh with a cold expression.

"Hmm... never thought he'd activate the fail-safe trigger on his body the second he felt us surround him. His mission must be to only follow us and make relevant reports but it's clear that someone doesn't want us to succeed in this mission so... I don't need to say it out loud, right?" Tsunade looked at Kai and Mikoto while Kai stepped forward and took out a tiny test tube from his storage scroll before he picked up a small portion of flesh from the melted goo only once he was sure that there wasn't any explosive trigger left on the melted cupcake.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

"Huh? I thought you meant taking the sample of the enemy and then bringing it back to the hospital to either let you or Orochimaru-san run some tests and background check..." Kai looked back. Yeah, the village with the ability to cure cancer had such techniques, too. But that wasn't the focal point.

"You think someone from the village..." Mikoto finally lost her cool for a second while Tsunade groaned and uttered, "Don't speak of stupid things like this in the village... and yeah, have Orochimaru run some tests later but I don't think anybody would be THAT foolish to have such a failsafe trigger in front of a medic-assault team."

Kai nodded while sealing the test tube into the scroll. He also thought of this but hey, maybe they could get lucky and have some hints, right?

'Fireball Jutsu,' Mikoto, still in her Fire Nature Transformation practice only needed three hand seals to breathe out a ball of flaming death to roast the cupcake into ashes under chakra-controlled flames that flickered out of existence once Mikoto stopped feeding her jutsu to the chakra.

"Come on, if there's one, there may be others. We'll start setting up with higher-level seals and traps to deter the few weaker ones. We'll keep poisonous traps close to ourselves. The poison is only good as long as its antidote doesn't spread out."

---

"Hmm, I thought you'd be..." Hiruzen looked at Danzo with a strange expression as the man calmly responded, "Mito-san did a lot for the village just be existing. She was our war deterrent and she promised Konoha to leave her legacy to her successor which means the Kyubi and the Uzumaki Scroll of Seals that our Sensei took as inspiration to form his own scroll for all his Jutsus. Even I can only show admiration for such a woman..."

Danzo left the office, leaving Hiruzen stunned. It didn't take long for him to follow the underground labyrinth and return to his base of operation, where, in a dimly lit room was a team of shinobi with their faces covered by porcelain masks with the likeness of some animals.

Gazing at the eleven shinobi, Danzo spoke slowly, "It is the Root's job to stay in the shadow and protect the future of Konoha. This is a war for resources. The three shinobi villages would either take a bite out of Konohagakure... or another country that has become a frightful menace to our people. With Mito Uzumaki's death, the last of THEIR concerns would dissipate. Four of you shall contact our sources in the relevant locations while the seven of you will form a team and pursue Team Tsunade who have left with important assets of Konoha."

"Remember. Nothing should ever come back to Konoha by having yourself trailed so... once this scroll is delivered, you must activate the seal of sacrifice. And the seven of you... Chunin Kai has shown apathy towards the loyalty to the village and Mikoto Uchiha, on several occasions, has revealed a pattern of insubordination. Her eyes must be brought back but... deal with the rest and recover the assets in their hands."

The eleven shinobi disappeared from the room using the Body Flicker Technique while Danzo grew a little quiet and released a tired sigh.

'Root... huh. Indeed, why must the light care for what the shadow devours? In nature, shadow exists because of light. Yet, I have to lead the shadows so the light can exist...' His bandaged hand touched his bandaged right portion of the fact, 'I have inherited your will... and even if Hiruzen refuses to see my way, I will ensure peace. Anyway, once things fall into motion, even Hiruzen would be forced to realize that with Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri focusing on Uzu, we can weaken and end the war from Suna's front...'

***

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